A few years ago, I saw Mamma Mia live at a local dinner theatre. It was one of the best, if not THE best, musicals I have ever seen there. It was my first experience with anything having to do with Mamma Mia and what a memorable one it was! During the show, I wanted to get up and and sing and dance along with the cast, and if that wasn't enough, they did an encore of some of the songs at the end of the show just for fun. I came away feeling like I was on top of the world.
While the movie doesn't measure up to the live show, it does entertain and leave me feeling the same way. You can't go into this movie expecting a complex, edge-of-your seat plot. If that's what you're looking for, this is not the movie for you. But if you're looking for a feel-good movie that entertains, Mamma Mia just may just be the movie you're looking for. It takes place in the summer, and mostly outdoors, so it's especially fun to watch at this time of year. I've seen it twice and I loved it both times.
Mamma Mia reminds me of another iconic musical that I love - "Grease" (except with "Grease" I prefer the movie over the live show). Grease has a simple plot (though more believable than Mamma Mia), but it's the music and dancing that really deliver. Whereas Grease is a teenage love story, Mamma Mia is more of a young (and in some ways older) adult love story, but not the kind you might expect.
Most of Mamma Mia takes place over the course of just two days, but a lot happens in those two days. 20-year old Sophie, delightfully played by Amanda Seyfried who I remember from my daytime soap watching days, is about to get married. She is tired of not knowing who her father is, so she seeks out to find him. She reads her mother's (played by another stellar actress, Meryl Streep) diary and learns that she has three possible fathers. She secretly invites all three of them to her wedding, pretending the invitation came from her mother. (Um, okay. Right there more than one ethical question can be raised, but the movie is so fun and entertaining, I won't go there today.)
Sophie is convinced she will know right away which one is her father when she sees them. (To my delight, Colin Firth plays one of the possible fathers (even though he'll always be Mr. Darcy to me). Of course, this is a movie and that would be too easy for her to know right away who her father is. She has some thoughts about who the father could be, but she doesn't know for sure. It could be any one of them. Sophie tries to hide her potential fathers when they arrive, but her mom eventually sees them. How does she not realize that Sophie probably had something to do with their arrival? Eventually she does find out how they got there.
The end has a bizarre twist. In one way it left me satisfied, but in another way it had me raising an eyebrow. I won't give it away for those who haven't seen it. You'll have to watch it to find out, but it did make me curious about what happens in the sequel.
After the movie ends, three of the characters (Sophie's mom and Sophie's mom's two friends) do an encore of a couple of the songs from the movie. This really sums up why I love the movie so much; the singing and dancing. They're the kinds of songs that make you want to be a part of it in every way. (At least that's what they did for me.) During the movie, it did seem like Meryl Streep was off key a bit, but what do I know? I'm not a musical expert. It didn't matter anyway. Throughout the movie, the entire cast looked like they were genuinely having fun. Sometimes that's precisely what we need.
Click here to read my review of the sequel, "Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again".
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